


Wha'll be king but Charlie?

by dark_pookha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, F/F, F/M, LGBTQ Themes, Yule Ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7560259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark_pookha/pseuds/dark_pookha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts is having a Yule Ball and Charlie Weasley's friend Angus is going to get him elected Yule King.  </p><p>Songfic based on the traditional Jacobite rallying song "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" written by Lady Carolina Nairne (1766-1845).  Public domain, performed by Silly Wizard.</p><p>Man, this is an old story of mine, and it's presented 'as is.' It would be vastly different if written today.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wha'll be king but Charlie?

     _A/N:_   _Songfic based on the traditional Jacobite rallying song "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" written by Lady Carolina Nairne (1766-1845).  The version in the story is performed by the band Silly Wizard (no, I'm not kidding, that's a real band)._           
    
  
_The  news  frae Moidart cam’ yestreeen_ _  
                                           Will soon gar mony ferlie,     
 _For ships o’ war hae just come in,_  
 _And landit Royal Charlie.__  
  
  
  
 _Come thro’ the heather, around him gather,_ _  
Ye’re a’ the welcomer early;_  
 _Around him cling wi’ a’ your kin;_  
 _For wha’ll be king but Charlie?_  
  
 _Come thro’ the heather, around him gather,_  
 _Come Ronald, come Donald, come a’ thegither_  
 _And crown your rightfu’, lawfu’ king,_ _  
                                             For wha’ll be king but Charlie?  _  
  
             Charlie looked at his friend Angus in confusion.   
  
   
  
            “Ye’ve gotta be Yule King, Charlie.  Ya canna let that Slytherin wanker Hodges become Yule King,” Angus repeated in his Scottish burr.  “We’d ne’er hear the end of his boastin’.”  
  
   
  
            “What in the world are you talking about, Angus?” asked Charlie.  
  
   
  
            “Ye didna read the message posted in the Great Hall about the Yule Ball?”  
  
              
  
            “Obviously not, Angus, now what’s going on?”  
  
   
  
            Angus rolled his eyes and continued, “There’s gonna be a Yule Ball this year, a formal ball.  Everyone who’s in fourth form or older can attend.  This year they’re gonna elect a Yule King beforehand who will dress as Father Christmas and hand out presents at the dance.  I know that Hodges is gonna stand for the position, and we canna let a Slytherin get the better of us.”  
  
   
  
            “And just why do you think that **I** should be this Yule King?” asked Charlie.  
  
   
  
            Angus replied, “Everybody likes you Charlie.  I dinna think that any other Gryffindor would have a chance, even yer brother Bill; too many people are jealous of the Head Boy thing.   Ye’ve gotta run, I’ll help getcha elected.  I can be your campaign manager.”  
  
   
  
            “Alright, alright, I’ll stand for the position already,” Charlie said, giving in to his friend’s exhortations.  “Now, we’ve got to get to Transfiguration or McGonagall will dock us points.”  
  
   
  
            After all their classes were over for the day, Angus left immediately for the library to do some “Research”.  Charlie had never before seen Angus so animated at the prospect of putting one over on Hodges.  On his way back to the Gryffindor common room, Charlie was grabbed and bussed noisily on the cheek by a girl he could never recall having seen before.  She had vivid day-glo orange hair, a long pointed nose and a chin that jutted out aggressively.  
  
   
  
            “Alright, _Nymphadora,”_ he said scathingly, “I know that’s you.  Don’t you ever get tired of this game?’  
  
   
  
            Tonks shifted her face back to its normal pale, heart-shaped state and said, “Nope, I never do.  Where’s Angus?”  
  
   
  
            “He went off to do research at the library if you can believe that,” Charlie replied.  
  
   
  
            “Research?” asked Tonks incredulously, “I’ve never seen him off on his own researching.  What in the world could he be researching?”  
  
   
  
            “He’s all hot to get me elected Yule King, just to put one over on Hodges.”  
  
   
  
            “Ooo, Yule King, huh?  Got a Yule Queen in mind for when you win?” asked Tonks, batting her newly pink eyelashes at him outrageously.  
  
              
  
                                                    _There’s ne’er a lass in a’ the lan’,_  
 _But vows baith late and early,_  
 _She’ll ne’er to man gie heart or han’,_ _  
                                                      Wha wadna fecht for Charlie _  
  
   
  
            “Umm, no, I hadn’t thought that far ahead, actually,” Charlie said, squinching his face up in thought.  
  
   
  
            “Well, **I** wouldn’t mind being Yule Queen. I think I’d make a pretty good wife for Father Christmas,” she said, transforming into an apple-faced, plump woman with white hair and rosy cheeks.  
  
   
  
            Just as they approached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, Angus came running at them waving a book he was holding and ran into Tonks full tilt, sending both of them crashing to the floor and exposing Tonks’ knickers.  The book that he’d been holding fell to the ground and hit Tonks in the head.  Tonks straightened her robes back over her exposure, grabbed the book and flung it back to Angus as she stood.  
  
   
  
            “Dammit, that wasn’t my clumsiness that time,” she snarled, glaring at Angus and turning bright beet-red.  
  
   
  
            “Ah, I see yer face matches yer knickers noo,” teased Angus.  
  
   
  
            Tonks punched him in the arm in a half-friendly, half-angry way while Charlie tried not to laugh at both of them.    
  
   
  
            Charlie asked quizzically, “What we’re you doing in the library?  I’ve never seen you so hot to run off and ‘ _research’_.”  
  
   
  
            Angus waggled his eyebrows at Charlie and replied cryptically, “Ah, for that, my boy, ye’ll jest have ta wait.”  
  
   
  
            Angus gave the password and hurried through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room.    
  
   
  
            “Did you happen to see what the title of that book was, Tonks?”  Charlie asked.  
  
   
  
            “”No, Charlie, I was too busy getting bonked on the head by it to read it,” she replied laughing, “Let’s go down near the Slytherin common room and I’ll pretend to be McGonagall.  I’ve made my robes reversible with teacher’s robes on the inside.  I’ll make up some rule they’re breaking, that way I can give Slytherins detention.  The looks on their faces when they arrive for detention with McGonagall and get told they don’t actually have detention should be priceless.”  Laughing, the two of them made their way down to the dungeons.  
  
   
  
            Charlie woke up early the next morning, went to the Great Hall before anyone else arrived for breakfast and signed his name up for Yule King, signing his great loopy signature right under Hodge’s undignified scrawling signature.  He sat down at his accustomed place at the Gryffindor table, opened his Charms book and waited for his friends to arrive.  Tapping his wand on the table absently, he found he couldn’t concentrate on his Charms studies.  “ _Am I actually excited at the thought of being Yule King?  Why did I let Angus talk me into this?  He and Tonks are always causing trouble for me.  I swear, Tonks alone gets me into more trouble than I ever would have by myself.  Merlin’s Beard!  What in the world is Angus doing?”_ At just that moment Angus had entered the Great Hall with what seemed all of Gryffindor House behind him, marching in lockstep to their seats.  Angus managed to catch Charlie’s eye and motioned curtly for him to stand up.   Charlie stood and watched dumbfounded as the Gryffindors trooped in.  
  
   
  
                                               _The Hieland clans, wi’ sword in hand,_ _  
                                                Frae John o’ Groats to Airlie,   
                                                 Hae to a man declared to stand           
                                                 Or fa’ wi’ Royal Charlie_  
 _._  
                                                   _The Lowlands a’, baith great an sma’,_  
 _Wi’ mony a lord and laird, hae_  
 _Declar’d for Scotia’s king an’ law,_ _  
                                                  An’ speir  ye wha but Charlie_  
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
            As the Gryffindors approached their table, they remained standing by their seats other students filed in.  Charlie would remember the murderous look on Hodges face forever as Hodges and the other Slytherins snaked their way to their table through the thronging Gryffindors (and the occasional Hufflepuff, following Tonks’ lead).  The Ravenclaws mostly sat and watched curiously, waiting to see what happened.  At the staff table, McGonagall looked as if she was trying to stifle a laugh by pretending she was having a coughing fit and Snape looked as if he had swallowed a slug.    
  
              
  
   
  
            Breakfast appeared suddenly on the table.  Angus motioned for Charlie to sit down.  The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs who were standing waited until Charlie was seated before they all fell to their seats with a great crash, just like puppets with their strings cut.  After a wonderful breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast and jam, Charlie stood to leave.  As he rose, Angus stood and shouted, “All rise!”  As one, the Gryffindors dropped their forks and rose.  Most of Hufflepuff House rose as well, along with a small amount of Ravenclaws.  As Charlie left the Great Hall, his face flaming to match his hair, the standing students swiveled to watch him.  When he reached the door and exited, they all sat again abruptly and the normal hubbub of breakfast resumed.  Charlie lingered outside the doors for a moment to regain his composure, when Hodges came storming through the door with his cronies McNair and Diaz.    
  
   
  
            Hodges raised himself up to his full 6’5” height, ran his hand through his thick black mane of hair and said, “You think you’re funny, don’t you, Weasley?  We’ll see who has the last laugh.  I wouldn’t get my hopes up to be Yule King.  After all, they don’t know your secret like I do.”  
  
   
  
            “What are you talking about, Hodges?” Charlie asked quizzically.  “The only secret I have is how I can stand the stench of McNair without a gas mask.”  
  
   
  
            McNair lurched toward Charlie, one hand curled up into a fist the size of a small canned ham, only to be held back by Hodges sticking an arm in front of him.  Hodges sneered again at Charlie and hissed, “I’ll expose what you are to everyone tonight at dinner.  Then being Yule King will be the least of your worries.”  As they turned and stalked off down the hall, Diaz elbowed Charlie viciously in the back of the head.  
  
   
  
            Charlie found it hard to concentrate on his studies the rest of the day, worrying about what Hodges had planned.  “ _What secret of mine could he possibly know that would put everyone off me?  Surely he can’t know **that** secret, even my parents and Angus don’t know about that.  Could he have seen me on those times I snuck out?  Maybe he knows that Tonks and I were the ones who snuck veritaserum into his food that one time.  Gotta concentrate on this Potions essay or I won’t get good marks.  C’mon, Charlie, concentrate.”_   Charlie closed his potions book with a loud snap, startling the other students in the library.  He stood and started viciously stuffing his books into his knapsack.  On his way back to the Gryffindor common room, he ran into Angus passing out small bits of blue paper with something written on them to all the Gryffindors entering the common room.    
  
   
  
            “What are you up to now, Angus?” Charlie asked.  
  
   
  
            “Dinna fache yerself, it’s nae anythin’ ta worry aboot,” Angus replied, playing up his accent even further.   
  
   
  
            Charlie looked at his friend with annoyance and said, “So, let me translate that, ‘Don’t worry about what I’m up to, it can’t possibly get you into more trouble than you’re already in.  Is that about right, Angus?”  
  
   
  
            “You got it in one, Charlie,” replied Angus, speaking again in his normal voice.  “What’s on your mind?  You look worried about something.”  
  
   
  
            “Hodges has got me nervous about what he’s planning.  Tonks and I have been in so much trouble over the last five years that I don’t know what Hodges could possibly show everyone that would turn them against me.”  
  
   
  
            Angus slipped the remaining pieces of paper into his robe pocket and clapped Charlie hard on the shoulder, “C’mon, Charlie, a little flying will help clear your mind.  Skive off Ancient Runes today and go flying with me; I’ve got a Quaffle we can pass around.”  
  
   
  
            “Don’t you worry about your O.W.L.S, Angus?  How can you expect to earn any with your constant skiving off?”  
  
   
  
            “Och, they’re overrated.  I’m gonna be a thestral rancher anyway, just like me Da.  All I really need is Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Herbology, and Transfiguration and my marks in all of those are fine.”  
  
   
  
            “Well, unlike you, I’ve got to pass my O.W.L.S, so I can’t go skiving off at the slightest opportunity,” Charlie replied testily.  
  
   
  
            “Don’t snap at me, young man.  I’m just tryin’ ta help ya take yer mind off yer problems.  If ye’d rather stew in yer troubles, go ahead and stew, but if ye’d rather get some air and think things over later wi’ a clear haid, then c’mon and let’s go.”  
  
   
  
            “Alright, alright, Angus,” Charlie said placatingly, “I’ll skive off Ancient Runes and go out with you.”  
  
   
  
            Charlie felt so much better with the air rushing in his face as he flew over the Quidditch pitch, passing the Quaffle back and forth with Angus.  He could feel his worries ooze out of him as the simple pleasure of flying took him over.  The way a broom responded to him always surprised him.  He never really thought of himself as a good flyer, but when he got on a broom, instinct seemed to kick in and he knew just what to do.  The rest of the afternoon passed quickly.  “ _Time always seems to go by so fast when you’re having fun and especially when something you’re dreading is approaching,_ ” Charlie thought to himself as he and Angus were putting away their brooms.  
  
   
  
            They went and cleaned up quickly before dinner.  As they approached the Great Hall Angus pulled Charlie aside, “Let me go in first and get things ready.  You come in in about a minute.”  Angus pushed Charlie lightly to one side of the door and went in.  Charlie waited about a minute and went in to dinner.  Just as he approached the open door, he stood and stared.   
  
   
  
                                       _Then here’s a health to Charlie’s cause,_  
 _And be’t complete an’ early;_  
 _His very name our heart’s blood warms;_ _  
                                       To arms for Royal Charlie!_  
  
  
Charlie was shocked at what he saw.  Huge, twice life-size banners of Charlie flying in his Quidditch robes hung from the ceiling, his hair streaming behind him as he flew closer and closer to a maiden in gauzy robes tied to a post on the cliffs of an ocean.   Banner-Charlie flew up and started untying the ropes holding the maiden to the post when a great sea serpent arose from the water.  As Charlie looked closer at the serpent, he could see that its face was a caricature of Hodges’.  From somewhere in his robes Banner-Charlie pulled out the sword of Godric Gryffindor.  He started flying around the serpent in fast, complicated circles, slashing at the serpent with the sword.  The crowd in the Great Hall laughed uproariously when it became apparent that Charlie had led the serpent to knot itself up.  Banner-Charlie flew over the knotted up serpent’s head and plunged the sword into its eye.  Thrashing and spraying blood, the serpent retreated into the ocean.  Banner-Charlie flew back down to the maiden, untied her, swept her up onto his broom and flew off into a red sunset with the maiden clinging to him and resting her head on his shoulders.  The scene then started to repeat.  
  
   
  
            Charlie overcame his shock and stepped into the Great Hall.  As soon as he stepped inside, Angus shouted, “All Rise!”  The Gryffindors rose as one, as did most of the Hufflepuffs and some of the Ravenclaws.  Charlie approached his seat and sat down, then everyone else sat down.  
  
   
  
            Hodges stood quickly from the Slytherin table and spoke in a firm, clear voice that easily carried to the whole hall.  “Headmaster, before we begin our dinner, I would like to claim equal time.  We have all been treated to this wonderful show,” he mocked, gesturing at the banners of the heroic Charlie.  “Now, I would like to show the real Charlie Weasley.  With your permission, Headmaster?”  
  
   
  
            Dumbledore nodded at Hodges and said quietly, “Just don’t be too long, my boy.”  
  
   
  
            Hodges elbowed Diaz and McNair.  McNair stood up and removed a small photograph from the pocket of his robes.  Diaz waved his wand at it, splashed it with a potion from a small vial and said an incantation in a low voice.  Hodges took the now moving photograph from Diaz’s hands and threw it at one of the banners featuring Charlie.  When the photo reached its apogee, Hodges waved his wand at it and said, _“Engorgio”_.  The picture grew to banner size and Diaz stuck it to one of the banners with a sticking charm.  
  
   
  
            The picture quality was grainy, as if it had been blown up too large, but it clearly showed a younger Charlie, dressed in his wizarding robes, creeping out behind a wall and mouthing something.  A few seconds later another boy came out dressed in Muggle clothing of Jeans and T-shirt.  They said a few words to each other, then embraced and locked each other in a passionate kiss.  
  
   
  
            A huge gasp rose from the Great Hall as the scene repeated.  Shocked faces swiveled to look at Charlie, his face flaming and scared.  Tonks ran over from the Hufflepuff table, changing her features as she approached Charlie to match the features of the boy from the photo.  She grabbed Charlie, forced him to stand and planted a big kiss on his mouth.  
  
   
  
            “No, it’s O.K.  Really, it was just Charlie and I playing a kissing game,” she lied unconvincingly.   
  
   
  
            Charlie pushed her off gently and told her quietly, “It’s no use, Tonks.  I’m going to be brave and tell the truth.”  Tonks sat down next to Angus at the Gryffindor table.  
  
   
  
            Charlie stood to his full height, straightened his back and spoke, “I am gay.  I’ve been hiding it for a while, but I guess it had to come to light sometime.  This doesn’t change who I am or what I’ve done.  That boy you saw was my first crush.  I loved him with all my heart, but we were separated by school.  He’s a Muggle and goes to a Muggle public school.  We decided that our love couldn’t survive the separation and broke up.”  Charlie choked up slightly, “Someday, I will find another man to share my life with.  If this makes you uncomfortable, then don’t vote for me, but remember that **what** I am doesn’t change **who** I am.”  He sat back down and looked downcast at his hands.  
  
   
  
              
  
Hodges sneered, “It’s bad enough that you would worship a blood traitor, but really would you elect a...”  
  
   
  
            Hodges’ mouth kept moving, but no sound came out of it.  Nobody had seen Dumbledore rise and silence Hodges, but they all heard his voice and saw the anger in his face.  
  
   
  
            “You will not use that word as long as I am headmaster,” Dumbledore intoned in a dangerous, quiet voice.  He waved his wand and muttered a complicated incantation.  “There is now a hex on that word and all of its derivatives.  If one of you utters it, then I will know immediately and there will be repercussions.”  Dumbledore sat down and waved for dinner to be served.  The usual din of students eating dinner seemed strangely subdued that evening.    
  
   
  
            Charlie picked at his food, barely eating.  Finally, he couldn’t wait any longer, turned to Angus and blurted, “Are you still going to be my campaign manager?”  
  
   
  
            Angus looked at his friend and spoke, “Of course I’m gonna be yer campaign manager still.  I’ve known ya were gay for two years now.  Doesn’t change one single thing about our friendship.”  Angus punched Charlie in the shoulder in a friendly way.  
  
   
  
            “Angus, I’m going back to the common room and try to study,” whispered Charlie.  As he rose, Angus stood as well and shouted, “All rise!”  The Gryffindors rose as one again, but this time only about half of the Hufflepuffs rose and only a very few Ravenclaws.  All the people standing waited patiently until Charlie had left the Great Hall, then they sat down.  As he was about halfway to the Gryffindor common room, Charlie was caught up to by Tonks.                         
  
   
  
            Tonks planted a big wet kiss on cheek, moistened even more by her tears.  “Charlie, you know I’ve always fancied you a bit.  Now I know why you didn’t fancy me in the same way, but I want you to know that I’m still your friend if you’ll have me.”  She didn’t wait for a reply; instead she squeezed his hand gently and walked off slowly toward the Hufflepuff common room.  
  
   
  
            Charlie pretended to be asleep when Angus returned to his dormitory, but Charlie didn’t sleep well that night, haunted by dreams of people laughing at him and pointing.  Charlie was particularly disturbed that one of the people pointing at him and laughing was his father.  He awakened the next morning, not truly refreshed, but resolved to get on with his life.  He wiped the tears from his face before he opened the curtains surrounding his bed.  Bill and Percy sat, sleeping in chairs they had brought up from the common room to his dormitory.  As soon as Charlie opened the curtains, Bill awakened, straightened his Head Boy badge on his robes and spoke, “Charlie, are you going to be O.K?”  Percy awakened, stretched and watched his brothers curiously.    
  
   
  
            “Bill, Percy, I’ll be alright I think.  Do you think Mum and Dad will be disappointed in me?” Charlie asked in a timid voice.  
  
   
  
            Bill spoke up, “No, I don’t think Mum and Dad will be disappointed.  As you said, it doesn’t change who you are.  You are a Weasley and a Prefect.  You are a Gryffindor and a good student.  You’re still the same prat who put dragon droppings in my trousers.  Still, if I were you, I would let them know first before they find out second-hand.”  
  
   
  
            Percy spoke up in his piping, little-boy voice, “Actually, Bill, Mum and Dad already know.  I heard them talking about it quietly one morning.  They had seen Charlie and that Muggle boy kissing and were discussing whether or not they should say anything to Charlie.  I listened in until they decided that they loved Charlie no matter whether he was straight or gay.  They decided to let Charlie tell him in his own time.”  
  
   
  
            Charlie clapped his hands around his brothers, feeling lightened in spirit and together they went off to face the day.  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
Epilogue: Seven Years Later  
  
   
  
            Draco Malfoy prowled the library, frustrated.   He had seen the Weasel at Quidditch practice and he was actually quite good.  “ _All I need is some way to undermine his confidence.  All I’ve got to do is make that blood traitor doubt his abilities.”_   Lost in his thoughts, Draco never saw the book that he tripped over.  As his foot caught the book on the floor, a blue piece of paper with frayed, yellowing edges shot out of the book from under the cover.  Draco stood, grabbed the paper and read it, with an evil thought beginning to form in his brain.  “ _A song, brilliant.  Hmm, maybe if I change a few words here and there I can get under Weasel’s skin.”_  
  
   
  
          He threw the paper down onto the library floor.  By chance the paper landed partially folded with printing visible face up:  
  
   
  
 _Now that Charlie has been elected, I want everyone to sing the following at Quidditch games and other events:_  
  
 _Weasley is our King,_  
                
                   The rest of the song was hidden by the fold of the paper.


End file.
